The very south of the Basque region includes some of the Rioja wine growing area. We left Izki and visited a small village to walk up Lapoblacion, a distinct hill overlooking the wine growing plains of Rioja. A short but tough climb up was rewarded with stunning views over the flat plains to the south. Dropped out of the mountains down onto the plains to visit the city of Logrono the capital of the wine growing area. Beautiful city with historic buildings and lots of green space. More importantly tapas food heaven. The streets are lined with tapas bars, some specialising in specific food. We visit a Pulporeria for octopus and another bar that only had griddled flat mushrooms, both delicious. Even better than the food is the wine. At anything from 80 cents per glass it is cheaper than water!! A really good Crianza Rioja is only 1.50 euro a glass. We were supposed to leave Logrono the next day but loved it so much we stayed another night! Went for a menu del dia at a really nice restaurant and had an amazing three course lunch with wine for 14 euros each, yummy.
Reluctantly we left Logrono (our waistlines couldn't take any more!) to travel to our most southerly point on this trip, Banderas Reales natural park. The landscape here is completely different to everything else we have seen in Spain. It is a semi arid desert area that looks more like the grand canyon in the USA. For any Game of Throne fans it is also the film location of the Dothraki Sea in season 6. We walked up to lookout points in the park and drove through the main areas on unmade tracks. This took about 2 hours in our motorhome! An unusual and beautiful landscape. As you can imagine it was hot here, probably about 30C but we didn't spend that much time out in the full sun. We also visited the cave dwellings at the entrance to the park, not sure when they were abandoned but some had cookers and sinks inside! We are off to the Pyrenees now, hasta luego. Love Dawn xxx
